{"id":208332,"date":"2025-01-05T16:59:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T16:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/05\/south-korea-thousands-brave-freezing-weather-in-seoul-to-protest-against-president-yoon-suk-yeol\/"},"modified":"2025-01-05T16:59:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T16:59:17","slug":"south-korea-thousands-brave-freezing-weather-in-seoul-to-protest-against-president-yoon-suk-yeol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/05\/south-korea-thousands-brave-freezing-weather-in-seoul-to-protest-against-president-yoon-suk-yeol\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea: Thousands brave freezing weather in Seoul to protest against President Yoon Suk Yeol"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thousands of people have braved freezing temperatures and snow to protest both for and against South Korea’s president outside his residence in Seoul.<\/p>\n

A warrant was last week issued for the arrest of President Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a><\/strong> over the short-lived marital law decree<\/a><\/strong> he issued in early December 2023.<\/p>\n

The conservative president, seemingly frustrated that his policies were being blocked, declared martial law and ordered troops to surround South Korea<\/a><\/strong>‘s National Assembly on 3 December.<\/p>\n

The Assembly unanimously overturned the declaration in a matter of hours and impeached Mr Yoon<\/a><\/strong>, accusing him of rebellion, on 14 December.<\/p>\n

At the same time, anti-corruption authorities and public prosecutors opened separate investigations into the events.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Pro-Yoon protesters wrapped up warm to defend the president. Pic: Reuters
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\n \"Police\n <\/div>
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\n Police guarding the road leading to the residence. Pic: Reuters
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Last Tuesday, a Seoul<\/a><\/strong> court issued warrants for Mr Yoon’s detention and for his home to be searched – but enforcing them while he remains inside the residence is complicated.<\/p>\n

Dozens of officials failed in their attempt to execute the warrants<\/a><\/strong> on Friday when they were forced to retreat after a six-hour standoff with the presidential security service.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the warrants expiring at midnight on Monday (3pm GMT) thousands of anti-Yoon protesters rallied near the gates of the presidential residence on Sunday, while pro-Yoon groups gathered in a nearby street. They were separated by police barricades.<\/p>\n

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\n \"An\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n An effigy of President Yoon Suk Yeol covered in snow. Pic: Reuters
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\n \"Protesters\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Anti-Yoon protesters in Seoul. Pic: AP
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Some of the demonstrators had gathered overnight, when temperatures fell below -5\u00b0C amid a heavy snow warning.<\/p>\n

Speaking on stage at the anti-Yoon rally, activist Kim Eun-jeong said: “<\/strong>The presidential security service continues to hide a criminal.”<\/p>\n

Read more:
Who is President Yoon Suk Yeol?<\/a>
Inside South Korea’s battle for democracy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n \"Yoon\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in a televised address last month. Pic: AP
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Nearby, Mr Yoon’s supporters held placards with messages including “We will fight for President Yoon Suk Yeol” and “Stop the Steal” – a phrase popularised by Donald Trump supporters after his 2020 election loss.<\/p>\n

At the residence itself, security staff were seen installing barbed wire, possibly in preparation to fend off another arrest attempt.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Supporters\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Mr Yoon’s supporters carried signs with a slogan borrowed from Donald Trump fans. Pic: AP
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

The president’s lawyers have claimed the arrest warrant is unconstitutional because the CIO, which is leading the criminal investigation, has no authority to investigate insurrection allegations.<\/p>\n

Mr Yoon’s defence minister, police chief and several top military commanders have so far been arrested for their roles in the martial law controversy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thousands of people have braved freezing temperatures and snow to protest both for and against South Korea’s president outside his residence in Seoul. A warrant was last week issued for the arrest of President Yoon Suk Yeol over the short-lived marital law decree he issued in early December 2023. The conservative president, seemingly frustrated that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/01\/768x432\/skynews-seoul-south-korea_6791937.jpg?20250105141527","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9293,18286,1359,2627,9724,39062,6967,146762,57,1282,2522,37422],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208334,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208332\/revisions\/208334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}